Video card upgrade

[torrent]

Sorry, I meant to post this in the nVidia subsection.

I have an older PC: Windows XP Pro OS, Dual PIII processors, 500MHz clock speed, 256MB system RAM, nVidia Geforce FX 5500 OC video card (256MB video memory), 300W power supply. I would like to upgrade my video card mainly for gaming; however, I don't need to run any cutting edge games. I don't have a lot of money to spend (around $50) and I'm sure my processor will bottleneck my system at some point so I've been looking at the older nVidia Geforce4 Ti series cards (4200, 4400, 4600, 4800). Although they don't have as much memory as my current video card, the memory they do have is much faster. From my research, the 64MB versions have a small amount of video memory but the memory is quite fast for an older card; whereas the 128MB versions have twice as much video memory but the memory is slower.

My questions:

1. Am I correct in assuming I will get better video throughput and frome rates with one of these Ti video cards than with my current video card?
2. If so, which video configuration would give me the best performance: the faster 64MB versions or the slower 128MB versions?

Thanks.

 

[mrquin27]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102410

9600 pro, 50$ with shipping forget the nvidia 4000 cards.

 

[torrent]

The AGP slot in my system is 2x. Does anyone know if this 9600 Pro video card will work in an AGP 2x slot? Thanks.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Itll work, tho, at 2x itll be quite bottlenecked, tho much better than your current card. AGP goes up to 8X, as an example, and I believe the 9600 is 8X, but liike I said itll still work, just be hampered by the low bandwidth

 

[trock112569]

Want to upgrade my video card
Current setup:
P4 2.8, 1 gig of ram, 533FSB
80gig ide/133 drive
GeForce ti4600

Now if I buy the GeForce 8800GTS,
1. Is the processor to slow for it?
2. Is this card really being choked by the CPU by a lot?
3. Is it worth it?

 

[tiredtraveller]

Surely your CPU will be so slow for a card like GF8800GTS. For example the game "Rainbow Six: Vegas" at least needs a P4 3.0 GHz CPU and undoubtedly you're going to play the latest games(I mean DX10 games are latest themselves!).

Also there are many games utilizing Unreal Engine(Rainbow Six Vegas(UE3), SplinterCell: DA, Gears of War, Stranglehold and many other great games)
And as you know Gears of War and maybe Stranglehold use DX10 and surely an updated version of Unreal Engine that will need higher CPU frequencies, too.
Apart from Unreal Engine, other graphics engines will also require powerful CPU's because of heavy calculations used in graphical textures and lightning reflections.

So a dual-core CPU will be a good choice for you(e.g.Core2E6600)

 

[rodney_ws]

Sorry, I meant to post this in the nVidia subsection.

I have an older PC: Windows XP Pro OS, Dual PIII processors, 500MHz clock speed, 256MB system RAM, nVidia Geforce FX 5500 OC video card (256MB video memory), 300W power supply. I would like to upgrade my video card mainly for gaming; however, I don't need to run any cutting edge games. I don't have a lot of money to spend (around $50) and I'm sure my processor will bottleneck my system at some point so I've been looking at the older nVidia Geforce4 Ti series cards (4200, 4400, 4600, 4800). Although they don't have as much memory as my current video card, the memory they do have is much faster. From my research, the 64MB versions have a small amount of video memory but the memory is quite fast for an older card; whereas the 128MB versions have twice as much video memory but the memory is slower.

My questions:

1. Am I correct in assuming I will get better video throughput and frome rates with one of these Ti video cards than with my current video card?
2. If so, which video configuration would give me the best performance: the faster 64MB versions or the slower 128MB versions?

Thanks.

Dang bro... I'm not sure a video upgrade is a good idea as your video card is fairly well matched to your system. If you upgrade to a decent AGP video card, you'll be held back by your 500 MHz processors and your 256 MB of RAM... I just don't know what a video card upgrade will accomplish. Caveat emptor!

 

[MadHacker]

I don't think an AGP 8x card will work in a 2x slot.
the 4x cards are backwards compatible to 2x,
and the 8x are only backwards compatible to the 4x. I think
if I'm wrong please correct me...

 

[cleeve]

I don't think an AGP 8x card will work in a 2x slot.
the 4x cards are backwards compatible to 2x,
and the 8x are only backwards compatible to the 4x. I think
if I'm wrong please correct me...

I'm pretty sure the first AGP 8x card... the 9700 PRO... will work in a 1x slot.

I'm not sure the 9600 and newer cards would work in a 2x slot... but I'm pretty sure they won't work in a 1x slot.

 

[4745454b]

They won't. 9700 and 9800pros work in all slots, but the 9600pro only supports 8x/4x. I'm looking at an AIW 9600pro sitting on my desk right now, and it only has one notch. This means it supports 8x/4x only, and not 2x.

I agree with the other poster. The 5500 is a fine card for your system. The Ti would be faster in some games/settings, but the 5500 supports DX9. (ti cards are DX8 max) Anything you get will be slowed by the 500MHz chips. Save your money.

As for the thread hijackers question, I don't think you can just buy the card. The ti series is on the AGP bus, while the 8800 series is on the PCIe bus. This means at the very least you'll need to buy a new motherboard and the 8800. Unless you buy the Asrock board, your ram won't carry over, and your CPU probably won't either. As you can see, upgrading your video card won't be cheap. If you want more speed, buy an 800MHz FSB P4, and a x1950pro video card.

 

[ryanthesav]

hahahaha

 

[ryanthesav]

sorry get an 8800 gts they really have come down. ur gonna need a new power supply most likely...

 

[4745454b]

sorry get an 8800 gts they really have come down. ur gonna need a new power supply most likely...

As I mentioned in my post to the hijacker, how do you plan on either of these guys to get a PCIe video card onto motherboards that only have AGP and PCI? (neither has said anything about upgrading the whole PC.) The 8800 might be a good card, but for those on AGP, or can't spend $250+ on a video card, you need to find other options. (laughing at them isn't going to help.)

 

[HYST3R]

to torrent:

going to a TI series card would be a definate downgrade. if your really needing better graphix you may be able to slide into a FX5700 or a 6200 i would say a 6600gt but those seem to be pretty hard to find as of late. i would consider saving up for a new rig really.

 

[maverick7]

dont upgrade get a new pc m8, ur pushing what 6 years now??

 

[Gh0stDrag0n]

dont upgrade get a new pc m8, ur pushing what 6 years now??

I agree, turn your PC into a file server and build a new one. You are not going to get much improvment by upgrading your video card. As was stated before your system is matched fairly well as it is.

 

[amnotanoobie]

I think even now, your 5500FX is bottlenecked by your processor and the AGP 2x slot. With your setup I can no longer advise anything that could improve the performance of games in that rig, maybe increasing your ram to 512mb or 1gb would at least make the thing usable under XP. Though as gaming performance is concerned, you really need to save up for a new pc. It is simply a dead end.